


You think you have me all figured out

by SharkEnthusiast



Series: Not your typical family [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben Hargreeves is Dead, Bens death, Blood, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt Diego Hargreeves, No Incest, Pre-Canon, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sorry if you don't like that, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Vanya Hargreeves-centric, Violins, WAIT NO THAT SOUNDS LIKE INCEST, and so I'm trying to include that in my writing, because thats how he is in the show, but i mean yolo i guess, dear god no, diego isn't really that great of a person but then again are any of them, klaus and vanya are gonna move in together cause they deserve to be happy, okay I like diego but i think I've embraced that he's not that good of a person?, okay i kinda need to chill with all the diego angst not gonna lie, plus I'm paranoid, this is rated teen and up cause of blood and death and sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2019-12-26 13:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18283688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkEnthusiast/pseuds/SharkEnthusiast
Summary: Vanya thinks of Number One. Of the house. Of training and when her siblings would come back torn to shreds.She thinks of Reginald Hargreeves and that they were fed loyalty to him like poison. How the two people who realised that Reginald hargreeves was not good and not just, died because of it.Her head aches and her skin itches and playing the violin isnt nearly enough anymore, so she drags out her typewriter and writes until everything starts to make a little more sense.





	1. Maybe You're Right

**Author's Note:**

> Hahahahah look at me creating this when I really should be working on my other fic
> 
> That's unfortunate.  
> I just really want to know what Vanya wrote in her book plus backstory on Diegos scar so I just wrote a did eith both of them. Also with Vanya and Diego cause why the heck not

 

 

It's been 8 years since Vanya had left that hellhole, and she's ready to move on. So she plays the violin until her fingertips bleed from the strings and writes until she has carpal tunnel.

 

 

 

She writes of Number 7. Of Fives disaperence, of Ben's death. She writes about Dad, about Mom, about the lonely nights praying none of her siblings had hurt themselves. She writes about Luthers obeidiance. About Diego's anger. About Allison's selfishness and Klaus's detatchment. She doesn't ever talk bad about Five and Ben.

 

 

 

She leaves them on the pedestal, where they belong.

She writes so much her siblings seem like hers. Like she knows them inside out. Like she's finally learned the ways of the unknowable that she spent her whole life trying to figure out.

 

 

 

In retrospect, she knows it was a stupid idea to actually publish it. It had been a way of therapy at first. Then it snowballed out of control.

 

 

 

She wonders what they think of it. They're angry, no doubt. Luther, stuck in that house, sitting on Allison's bed, reading. Seething. Because Vanya can insult him all she wants, but when it comes to Allison, that's where it crosses the line. Diego, wherever the hell he is, punching a wall or someone and yelling. Because he is all hot anger and fists and no sense. Allison won't bother, she doesn't think. Vanya has never been worth her attention, why would she be now?

 

 

 

She doesn't know how Klaus will react.

 

 

 

She's tries not to think about how Five and Ben would feel about it. Sometimes she misses them so much her chest aches, even after all this time.

 

 

 

She may have been the forgotten Hargreeves, but that doesn't mean she misses them any less.

 

 

 

She's at a show. Getting ready. Her stomach feels alive, twisting and coiling and flipping like some sort of snake. She's finally managed first chair. She has a solo and everything.

 

 

 

She tries to ignore that it's from her temporary fame.

 

 

 

She sits down, and can hear the audience through the curtain. Her fingers rest on the violin, and she brings it up to her chin. The curtain rises, and she takes one quick glance at the audience. Through the glare of the spotlights she makes out a familar face.

 

 

 

_Diego._

 

 

 

He looks like he's going to murder her.

 

 

 

She plays through the piece quickly and badly, puts away her violin with haste, and bolts the second she's out of view.

 

 

 

He finds her anyway. By her car. His knuckles are split and so is his lip. He looks the same.

Maybe a little wilder.

 

 

 

He doesn't speak. Just grabs her by the front of her shirt and holds her there.

 

 

 

"What is your problem!" He yells, letting go of her shirt. His voice is Cold-angry.

 

 

 

"Diego-"

 

 

 

"No! You don't get to _say_ that, Vanya! You don't know Luther, or Allison. Not Klaus. Especially not me! And Jesus. You don't get to even talk about Ben. You didn't know him. You didn't see him die. You're in no place to go around parading your bad version of our childhood. You think you've got me all figured out."

 

 

 

Diego steps away from her taking a breath. For a second, she thinks it's over. All the yelling.

 

 

 

"Mean, huh? Aggressive? Damaged by his upbringing?" He steps back towards her. Shoves her against her car. Laughs. Cold, angry. Evil.

 

 

 

"Maybe you're right."

 

 

 

Vanya has never been more scared of him in her life.

 

 

 

It's the Tuesday night the next week when Diego stumbles into Vanya's apartment, blood soaking one side of his face, and coaches her through stitching up the side of his head.

 

 

 

He doesn't wince once. Not even when her hands shake or when she starts to cry and not even when she pushes the needle a little too deep.

 

 

 

When shes done she helps him mop the blood off of his face. He's a little out of it from the blood loss. She vaguely wonders if she should take him to the hospital.

 

 

 

She's crying harder now. She drops the needle onto the floor and prays she can find it in the morning.

 

 

 

"It's okay." Diego whispers, holding Vanya's hands in his to steady them. "It's okay. Don't cry. It's okay."

 

 

 

She can't stop the tears. He seems to be getting tired now. Eyelids drooping. She isn't entirely sure whether she should let him sleep with this level of a head wound, but he seems too far into the process.

 

 

 

"Sorry bout your couch." He slurs, eyes closed.

 

 

 

"I'm sorry." She whispers, careful not to wake him. "I'm sorry I'msorryimsorry _I'm sorry."_

 

 

 

She sits there, watching him sleep, his blood in her hair and under her nails until her chest isn't as tight and she doesn't have any water left in her.

 

 

 

She got him all wrong.


	2. Mind if I crash?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m sorry I wrote those things about you.” Vanya says. She’s scared again. That seems to be a common theme in her.   
> Diego snorts.  
> “No you’re not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I wasn't gonna continue this but then people said they would like it if I did. And then I actually considered it and ended up writing the second chapter which actually might be the longest chapter of a fic i've ever written.  
> Also! After I began to write the second chapter I began think about how this work could connect to my series Not Your Typical Family. So now!!! It's a part of it! Please check the rest of the works in the series if you haven't already.

Diego has always hated the publicity.

The interviews, the teen magazines with his face plastered onto them, the words "getting real with the Umbrella Academy". Because they were never real. They lied through their teeth that Reginald Hargreeves was good and just and killing was the only way to stop the bad guys. 

 

They weren't real because Allison got a weird high after each interview and Luther would yell at Klaus for letting something slip and Diego used to practice in front of a mirror to make his mouth work the way it was supposed to. And Ben used to pretend that his powers weren't that bad and Five lied and said that he loved his father, even though they all knew it wasn't true.

But despite how much Diego hates the publicity and the cameras and makeup and snappy reporters, it was a part of the Umbrella Academy, and he could never escape that.

  
  


Until he did.

  
  


And now it's back. The cameras and the weird looks and the mocking jabs and it's all because of that stupid  _ book. _

Diego was never one for reading. But the second he saw that book with Vanya's big, sad, subdued eyes, he bought it and read it in hours flat.

He got kicked out of the police academy for that  _ book.  _

He broke up with Patch over that  _ book.  _

He's far too angry. He knows that. He should just move on.

(He has never been one for doing that, either.)

He goes to one of Vanya’s shows and even considers buying  _ flowers because he'd be damned if their mother didn't raise them to be polite.  _

He doesn't. He gets first row tickets and waits until she sees him and assaults her by her car and yells at her and he  _ will never forget the look in her eyes because he never meant to make her scared.  _

The next week, he picks a fight with someone he shouldn't have and has nowhere to go, so he goes to Vanya's. Because if he just listens to her voice and her careful fingers and closes his eyes he can pretend it's Mom.

She stitches up the side of his face. 

And cries.

He barely remembers it, but he’s pretty sure he tries to not either. He falls asleep, head aching, messy stitches in the side of his face and hoping that when he wakes up he won't screw everything up like he usually does. 

 

Diego sleeps for a day. In the meantime Vanya takes time off work and cleans the cut and panics about whether he should be sleeping this much and googles stuff about blood loss and stitches and what classifies as too much sleep. 

She googles what to do when someone loses a lot of blood and what to feed them and whether or not she should even take him to the hospital. 

She almost does. But she remembers when Allison got hurt on a mission and they were too far from the academy so they took her to a hospital and all the nurses asked was questions.

She tries to imagine Diego in a white hospital gown surrounded by heart monitors and IV’s, shudders, and decides to leave him where he is. 

 

When Diego finally wakes up he’s a little  disoriented. He just groans a lot and thanks Vanya too many times. He apologizes for the blood stains that will never come out from her couch. He eats her weird food that supposedly helps with blood loss and gives her careful smiles and bandages the side of his face for her so she doesn’t have to deal with it.  

He wishes he had morphine.

Seriously. The only way to get rid of the pain with advil is probably to overdose on it. 

Vanya sits beside him the next night. Shy. Anxious. Diego saw her pop one of those pills earlier even though she already took her two for the day. 

“Hey.” She says, sitting beside him on the couch.

He doesn’t turn his head to look at her. (Everything hurts if he does) (and maybe he feels a little guilty for attacking her at her car and shoving her and scaring her and being a bad brother)

“Maybe I should take you to a hospital.” She says. And even though she probably should, Diego responds with

“No hospitals.” 

God, he wants to sleep.

“I’m sorry I wrote those things about you.” Vanya says. She’s scared again. That seems to be a common theme in her. 

Diego snorts.

“No you’re not.” He says. He still doesn’t look at her.

“Whatever.” He continues. “They’re true, anyway.” 

They sit in silence and if Diego wasn’t in so much pain he would squirm and fidget and be awkward but right now he’s doesn’t have the energy. 

He feels off, and it’s not just the injury. 

“I’m sorry you never knew how Ben died. And I’m sorry you’re stuck with a bunch of assholes for siblings.” Diego says. 

Everything hurts.

Saying Ben’s name burns his mouth like poison and all he wants to do right now is forget. 

He can feel Vanya’s eyes bore into him. Studying him. Like he is a puzzle to be cracked. 

“No you’re not.” 

“Touche.”  

They are silent again and Diego might be hallucinating or delusional, but he’s pretty sure it’s a little more of the comfortable kind. He shuts his eyes. 

“How did Ben die?” Vanya asks, and Diego can feel the fear in her voice. Mixed with curiosity and it might be him being paranoid, but also a weird fascination. 

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t open his eyes. He deepens his breathing. Pretends to be asleep.

He would like to say he wont tell Vanya because she doesn't deserve the weight that that knowledge has, but he knows it’s just because at this moment, he doesn’t trust his voice to come out right. 

 

Diego must have fallen asleep, because he wakes up on Vanya’s couch to his cell phone vibrating from inside his pocket. The apartment is dark, and he can vaguely hear Vanya's heavy breathing from the room over. He scrambles to get it, pulls it from his pocket, and immediately pales when he sees who’s calling. 

It’s Patch. And she must be seriously pissed as she’s calling at  _ 2:56 in the fricking morning.  _

“Hello?” He says, voice gravely and barely above a whisper as to not wake Vanya up. 

“So you know how we had that meeting at the coffee shop planned? As to try and work things out? Well, imagine my surprise when not only did you not show, but I go by your place and Al tells me you have been gone for  _ 4 days? _ What the hell happened? Let me guess, your sisters dumb book made you too humiliated to show your face ever so you’ve been fighting crime for 4 days straight or you passed out from stress or some shit or you had a mental breakdown or-”

Diego grins despite how it pulls at the cut.

“Awww, you worried about me Patch?”

“You sound like shit.”

“You never answered my question.” He can hear her scoff and then sigh.

“Yeah, okay? Just a little. It’s not like you go missing a lot. Now, tell me what happened or I’m going to come find you and arrest you for being an utter dumbass.”

Diego shifts into a sitting position and groans.

“Fine. I got hurt. And it was pretty bad, so I crashed at my sisters and asked her to stitch me up.”

“ _ Stitch you up?”  _ Patch whisper-yells, and Diego flinches. “Alright, whatever, I’m picking you up. What’s Allison’s address?” 

“I’m at Vanya's. 1024 Euclid Avenue.” It’s silent for a bit but Diego can imagine Patch sigh and roll her eyes. 

“Okay, Diego. Be there in 10 minutes, top.” 

Diego rolls over and off the couch, gathers his stuff from the washing machine and goes to wait in front. He thinks about leaving a note, glancing at the pen on Vanya’s coffee table.

  
  


He doesn’t bother. 

  
  


The next morning, when Vanya goes to check on Diego, he’s gone, but another Hargreeves brother is in his place on the bloody couch.

“Klaus?” She asks, and he springs up to face her.

“Heya, sister mine. Mind if I crash?” 

And because Diego is gone and in his absence Vanya feels a little lonely, and because she’s been lonely her entire life she smiles and nods.  

“Not at all.” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I know I didn't write this in here but so since diegos clothes had blood on them, vanya lent him stuff so for the entirety of this chapter he's wearing a tracksuit.  
> low-key tho.   
> okay sorry i just thought it was funny  
> hope you enjoyed

**Author's Note:**

> Hope my over dramaticness wasn't too bad.  
> Also I have no clue how orchestra stuff works, so olease excuse all that bs I made up. Hopefully its a little right.


End file.
